In the Corners of the World
by captainharsya23
Summary: Who would have thought that being the #1 would be so soul crushing? These days, the only thing keeping Katsuki Bakugou AKA Ground Zero, the #1 Hero of Japan, going was a travel blog he stumbled upon and the online friendship he made through it.


**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN BNHA.**

* * *

Katsuki had found the blog by complete accident. Mina had been showing off to everyone about the Bahamas, where she and Eijirou were having their honeymoon, and while Katsuki would never admit it out loud, he did think that the photos she had been sharing on the UA alumni group were really beautiful. So he looked up more pictures of the islands, and one of the photos he found online particularly stood up to him.

So he clicked on the website where the photo came from and found a whole new world of things to admire. Yes, there were more beautiful shots of the Bahamas, of the oceans surrounding it, of its beaches, of the sunsets and sunrises from said beaches. But there were also so much more of everything, of the mountain peaks of the Alps where the snow and clouds blended together between the grey mountain rocks and the clear blue sky, of people milling about the streets of New York under the bright lights and skyscrapers, of the vast expanse of the Kenyan savannah that lies beyond a simple village of local natives.

Katsuki quickly realized that what he had stumbled upon was a travel blog, one where the photographer never showed anything other than a part of his hands or legs, never anything else. It wasn't that Katsuki wanted to know anything more about them, he certainly have no interest wasting his time thinking about fucking extras, but something about the photos made him feel like that he was _invited _to come and see the sights for himself.

If only. One thing that he quickly learned once he became the #1 hero was that break seldom came unless he _really _needs it. There's always villains to catch, always criminal groups to take care of, always another magazine and TV interview, always another day coming to UA to give some little fuckers motivation and shit.

Another.

Another.

Another.

It wasn't until he have to miss his own birthday that Katsuki realized that being the #1 hero means that his life was no longer his own, but everyone else's.

So he browsed through the photos in that blog, imagining himself to be where the photos depicted instead of a large yet empty apartment, resigned to the fact that he's always just one call from his agency away from losing the break he was supposed to have.

* * *

Once upon a time, Katsuki would have proudly said that he didn't have a single regret in his life. But now, he knew better. It wasn't that he didn't have any regret, it was that he was too prideful, too blind to notice the things he lost, the things he missed, to regret it. And now he knew better, he realized that there's many things that he did miss, things that he lost, things that he _regretted_.

One of those was Izuku Midoriya.

Sometimes Katsuki would wonder what the fuck possessed his younger self to be such a monster to someone that never do anything that deserve the way his younger self treated him (It was _pride, _it was_ selfishness, _it was repressed anger). They met again during Katsuki's summer vacation in his second year in UA. Vividly, Katsuki still remembered sitting on a bench together with Izuku, the two of them eating takoyaki they bought from the stand in the festival where they accidentally met each other.

He still remembered apologizing to the green haired teen for how terribly he treated him. He still remembered Izuku's soft smile, telling him that he had long forgiven Katsuki. He still remembered the two of them starting over, making a fresh start.

But then summer ended, he returned to UA without ever asking for Izuku's phone number or email and frankly have no idea how to get it. He tried asking his mother, who was friend with Izuku's mother, just to find that the Midoriya family had moved out of Japan right after Izuku failed to enter UA, and that Mitsuki also have not talked to Inko for over a year.

Most of Katsuki's regrets were related to one Izuku Midoriya. Regretting how he had treated the quirkless boy over the years. Regretting not trying to reach out earlier. Regretting not asking of his email or number when he still have the chance. Regretting not ever giving him a chance to prove that maybe, he could be a hero too.

(Katsuki wondered what would have happened if Izuku had met All Might. If All Might could see a hero within his middle school self, surely he would have seen a hero within Izuku as well. Not that they'd ever know, as a result of yet another one of his biggest regret, being the cause of All Might's death)

* * *

"Bakugou…" Ochako tried, reaching out her hands toward Katsuki.

He swatted her hands away. "No. Fuck off, roundface."

"Bakugou." Ochako tried again, this time firmer though she didn't try to reach out to him with her hands. "You need to stop and take a break."

"No." Katsuki snapped again. "Who the fuck is gonna fill my spot if I take a break? Not that bastard half-and-half for sure, since his stupid brother is still an international fugitive."

She frowned. "Did you have so little faith on us? I thought you knew better, after all these years."

"I wasn't- Fuck." Katsuki cursed, rubbing his face with his hand.

The last few weeks had been _rough_¸ even for his standard. Terrorist attack, dozens of civilian casualties, some of the heroes from his own agency dying in action, the m fucking vultures from media hounding him endlessly, he just-

"I need a break." He finally admitted, giving up. "Give me my phone, I need to call shitty hair."

Ochako sighed, shaking her head. It's a good thing for her to come and confront him about it after all. Eijirou had been a kicking up a fuss in the 3-A alumni group, the one that didn't include Katsuki, about how he felt like that Katsuki was overworking himself to death, and Ochako could certainly see that.

She, much like everyone else in Katsuki's year in UA, knew that Katsuki had been the one that ran himself to the ground the most since they graduated. Sure, she knew that Katsuki was ambitious, but there's a difference between working hard and just straight up overworking and Katsuki was firmly on the overworking side, especially in the last few weeks.

"You don't have to, Eijirou already planned to force you to a break anyway." Ochako waved off. She couldn't help but found the offended face that Katsuki made pretty funny and also relieving, as it's probably the most relaxed he had been for some time, if Eijirou's probably hyperbolic testimony of how Katsuki had been in the last few weeks was to be believed.

* * *

Katsuki took an entire week off, and when he saw in the blog a secluded and very beautiful frozen lake in Canada, he decided that he might as well go there. He booked a flight to Vancouver and spent the next five days climbing mountains, canoeing, and camping in the freezing Canadian wilderness, with one particularly very memorable encounter with a grizzly bear being the highlight of his "tour". When he returned to Japan, Katsuki felt that his mental and physical condition was better than it have been in the years.

That wouldn't last that long however, as he soon found out that another big villainous group had emerged and causing havoc across Japan. Hitoshi, one of the double agent that had been sent to infiltrate the organization was caught and tortured, and the rescue mission had been both physically and mentally draining for every hero involved as they witnessed the true scale of brutality that the group committed.

But Katsuki couldn't just take another break so soon after his previous one, so he again relied on the blog to found some feeling of relaxation.

One day the Blogger would upload an entire collection of photos depicting what was a four day trip around Thailand, visiting not only its large cities and famous beaches but also its unexplored countryside and thick jungles. Two days later, he was already in Egypt, rowing a boat on the Nile, taking pictures of the famous pyramids, and playing football with some of the local kids.

The last one gave Katsuki an idea. He knew damn well that the whole damn place need some morale boost after the whole bullshit that probably traumatized the entire Pro Hero community.

He brought up the idea to his… _friends _(He knew deep down that he probably would die for his former classmates, now fellow Pro Heroes, but habit prevents him from flat out admitting they're his friends) first, and in true UA fashion, they were very ecstatic about the idea. Soon enough, they managed to get the entire Pro Hero community, even fucking _Endeavor _(Shoto begrudgingly admitted he had gotten _a bit _better, but still) genuinely wanted in.

The next month, top Pro Heroes played some games of football against each other in Yokohama Stadium, the proceedings from ticket sales and broadcasting revenues given to charities. Katsuki was credited for the idea, though for once he was being humble about it, much to everyone's slight confusion.

The next day, Katsuki found a photo of him and some other Pro Heroes playing football posted on the blog, most likely taken from the bench, among a bunch of other photos taken in various spots in Japan. Katsuki then realized something, going through the older photos in the blog and confirmed his suspicion. Whoever took the photos were probably a fan of heroes, since he always made sure to upload photos of some heroes local to the place he was visiting.

Suddenly, Katsuki felt his interest in whoever was taking all those photos increase substantially. In some level, he personally knew those heroes that the Blogger took photos of, and the ones he took were all the ones Katsuki found to be at least tolerable, so they have a good taste in heroes, at least in Katsuki's book. Realizing that he could send a private message to the Blogger, he debated for a moment whether to do it or not before curiosity got the better of him. Besides, worst case scenario, the other person turned out to be a boring ass extra and he could just end it right there.

Creating an account, Katsuki decided to be a little cheeky with his username and immediately send a short message to the Blogger.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Yo, went to that lake in Canada in you took the photo of a while back. It was fucking great.

Katsuki got a reply the next day.

**GreenBlogger: **Hello, it's nice to know that you enjoyed your trip! It's definitely one of the best place to go hiking and explore. Also, I see you're also a hero fan ;)

**GroundZeroIRL: **Yeah, let's go with that.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Noticed you took a lot of photos of heroes too. Nice taste in heroes, by the way.

**GreenBlogger: **Thanks! I just think heroes are great, you know.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Damn fucking right they're great. Where are you going next?

**GreenBlogger: **It's a secret~

**GreenBlogger: **Just wait for the photos

**GroundZeroIRL: **Whatever

For one, the fact that the other didn't make any mention to his language was already a huge plus. He'd hate to deal with some prissy bitch bothered with a little vulgar language. Then they're also friendly but not in an annoying way. Though, Katsuki managed to survive for nearly an entire decade without actually murdering one Kaminari Denki, so maybe that's just him having high tolerance for annoying.

Two days later, they posted a bunch of photos of the crystal cave in Mexico in the morning, followed by more photos of places around Mexico, including a particularly magnificent one of the Pyramid of the Sun, if the caption was to be believed. Of course, there were also photos of the country's number-one hero, Quetzal.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Fuck off. That crystal cave can't be fucking real.

**GreenBlogger: **It's 100% real! Wished I could take more photos but I'm not allowed to stay in it too long :(

And for the next few months, a similar pattern would continue. The Blogger (Which Katsuki eventually learned is a guy) posted photos of his latest trip, and Katsuki would message him, commenting on the most interesting part of the photos. Neither of them have told the other about anything more than their gender and age (Katsuki found out they're the same age) and Katsuki felt that their arrangement at the time was ideal.

* * *

Shota Aizawa died when Katsuki Bakugou was 26, died protecting civilians from a villain that tried to attack the crowds as a distraction. It could only be described as a heroic death, something that the media readily pounced on. But not only that, his death left behind a heartbroken Hizashi and entire generation of heroes taught by him mourning and.

Katsuki was not an exception. Shota had been one of the most important figure in his life, the one who under his uncaring façade, have always been the one who fought tooth and nail for his students well-being. Always the one who were ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of his students. And most importantly for Katsuki, the one who stood by him and supported him even during his worst days and help him to be the man that eventually become the #1 hero Ground Zero.

He was supposed to be used to death after nearly ten years of being a Pro Hero. He had seen many civilian deaths, witnessed the demise of other heroes, some from his own agency, _his responsibility_, but it wasn't until someone he knew, he _respected_, and have spent years fighting with, for everything to crash into him in full force. For the first time in many years, the All Might that came in his dreams had been one that reeks of death, of suffering, instead one of hope and light.

As if resonating with his grief, the Blogger uploaded photos of the World War I graves in Belgium, and of various "graves of Heroes" around Western Europe, along with some photos of poppies, with the caption "For all those who left before their time". For the first time in months, _years_, Katsuki broke down in tears as the reality of death crashed into him.

(It was then he realized that he never get used to it. He had simply been pushing it all to the back of his mind, never truly processing it. Until now)

When he finished crying, he felt lighter but far from okay.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Thanks.

**GreenBlogger: **You're welcome (?)

**GreenBlogger: **What for, exactly?

He didn't reply.

* * *

Katsuki took another week off one month after Shota's funeral. He knew he was probably being irresponsible, to practically run away from his responsibilities especially as the #1 hero that's supposed to bring inspiration to others in a time where many of the other Pro Heroes that were also his friends needed it. But he need time to think, to be alone, and go over everything.

When the Blogger posted photos of his recent trek in the Norwegian Arctic, saying that it's a good time of the year to catch auroras, Katsuki didn't even give it a second thought before booking a ticket to Oslo.

He had travelled to the country's Northern cities to catch the Aurora, much like how the Blogger advised to do, and god, they were _stunning_. The dancing lights mesmerized him enough that the fact that he was standing outside in the middle of the night in one of coldest region on Earth was lost on him as he stared at the brilliant colors that shone across the night sky.

In a visit to a local museum dedicated to Sami culture the next day, Katsuki was told by the guide that to them, the death and the living are two halves of the same family. That just because someone died, that doesn't meant that they were completely gone.

He remembered what All Might said about the nature of One For All, how its previous users "lived on" within the quirk itself. Katsuki couldn't help but suddenly felt strangely jealous of one Mirio Togata, the one who currently held One For All (and would probably have been the #1 hero if it wasn't for his _unfortunate _public image. The public could only tolerate so much public nudity before they're fed up after all).

When he returned to Japan a few days later, Katsuki visited Mirio's agency with no warning, barged into the blond hero's office and asked, "Shitface, can you talk to All Might through One For All?"

Mirio sighed, a melancholic expression entering his usually jovial face. "If only it's that easy."

**GroundZeroIRL: **I don't think I've seen anything more beautiful than those auroras

**GreenBlogger: **I personally liked the ones in the South.

**GreenBlogger: [photos of Aurora Australis}**

**GreenBlogger: **You should visit Chile and Argentine if you can.

**GrounfZeroIRL: **Sure.

That was the first time Blogger sent him any photo through their private messages.

* * *

By the time he was 28 years old, Katsuki became convinced that in the fight against League of Villain, Tomura Shigaraki, and All For One, they had won the battle but failed to win the war. Defeating them only meant that there would be more factions fighting for power and influence in the underground world, and Katsuki realized that unless the whole damn thing was burned off to the root, then it would just be an endless cycle of rise and fall of big villain organizations.

During All Might's era, it was much less of an issue as his charisma and shining heroism alone was enough to keep most villains down and the heroes up. But All Might have died, and while Katsuki knew that he was doing a good job of his own, he's certainly no All Might. Mirio, for all his power and glorious heroic achievements, was probably the biggest example for their generation of brilliant heroes ruined by the media and the public. Without the Beacon of Hope, the heroes doesn't have a shining beacon to look up to and the villains have no such beacon to look away and hide from.

This time, the villain group was led by what Katsuki could best describe as a One For All wannabe, complete with the whole "defeated by the #1 hero" bullshit backstory. As if Katsuki would bother to remember those fucking losers. But loser or not, they're effective at spreading terror and chaos among the populace. And as if the irony couldn't get any worse for Katsuki however, his fight with the leader ended with a fucking hole in his stomach. Fantastic.

Cooped up in the hospital, Katsuki again turn to the blog as a source of entertainment. This time, the Blogger had recently posted photos of his trip to Cuba and Katsuki noticed that there was a lot of photos from Havana's old city.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Loving the colonial architecture, huh?

**GreenBlogger: **Guilty as charged

**GreenBlogger: **By the way. You're a Ground Zero fan right?

**GroundZeroIRL: **Sure. What's with him?

**GreenBlogger: **Umm, I heard he was injured badly in his last fight. Was he fine?

**GroundZeroIRL: **Probably. He's too fucking strong to die from something like that.

**GreenBlogger: **Yeah, you're right.

After he was discharged, Katsuki decided to make it a routine, to go to where the Blogger went to recently, at least once a month, even for just three days. His agency had no problem with that, despite the media's chattering, as they're just glad that their leader seemed to be more willing to look after himself these days.

First it was Belize, and Katsuki found that tropical beaches and jungle, while nice to look at in photos, was probably not for him. In the first place, he already sweat very easily due to his quirk, add in the tropical climate and general humidity, he nearly passed from heat stroke then.

The Blogger had laughed at him when he told him of what happened, that cheeky bastard.

Then he went to Nepal, and holy fuck was climbing the tallest peaks in the world a fucking blast. Sure, he didn't really reach the peak (He's strong and physically fit, but he's not too prideful to admit that he's not specialized on mountain climbing enough to do it) but the climb itself was exhilarating. Considering Blogger seemed to like going to these type of mountains, Katsuki imagined that he's probably pretty fit as well.

Then Eijirou was forced to retire after half his body was permanently paralyzed, crushed by an entire fucking building for hours in a rescue mission. He could never do Pro Heroes activity anymore, bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Katsuki had visited him just a few days after he was discharged, and Eijirou _tried _so hard to keep up a bright appearance. But in the end he broke down, thrashing around, angry but not knowing who or what to blame. Katsuki felt something within him died that day.

The Australian outback was _boring_. It was nothing but endless barren wasteland, the only bright spot of his trip there being his encounter with some Aboriginal people that taught how to play the didgeridoo. Somehow, the video of him playing said instrument circulated online and became a meme, but Katsuki had given up trying to figure out the internet a long time ago.

Then Denki went into an indefinite coma due to severe overuse of his quirk. The doctors couldn't even say if he's ever going to wake up or not. Hitoshi retired from his Pro Hero work to look after Denki. Katsuki would find himself checking his Twitter every few hours, as if expecting something just to find nothing. It was then he realized just how much he missed Denki's idiotic tweets and dumb jokes.

For the first time in his life, Katsuki indulged himself in drugs during his trip to Dubai. He supposed that reckless hedonism had its merits, no matter how temporary, if the strangely light feeling that he have throughout the entire trip was any indication.

(He immediately regretted everything once he returned to Japan, and Blogger seemed to be upset that he's indulging himself to that point)

Ochako wasn't allowed to do any Pro Hero activity for the next three months after she was shot in the kneecaps, and the doctor said that there's a chance that she will get a permanent limp from it. Katsuki turned away from her apartment, cancelling his visit when he heard Ochako and Eijirou cries together in it. Call him selfish, but he didn't think that he's mentally strong enough to handle the both of them at that point.

Katsuki needed an escape, and not even his monthly trips to some of the most stunning places in the world seemed to help much anymore. He continued to message Blogger, telling him of his opinions on his latest photos and his experience visiting the places Blogger featured. Katsuki found it a bit strange that they still didn't know each other's name despite having continuously talking with each other (over the internet, but still) for nearly three years by then.

So he started wondering more about Blogger's identity.

He started wanting to know more.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Yo, we've been talking for so long I think that you should at least know my name

**GreenBlogger: **It's fine, you don't owe me anything

But Katsuki wasn't fine, and guilty as he might feel as he did so, he asked a personal favor to his agency's IT head to hack for Blogger's identity.

And came up blank.

"Well, whoever it is, they're pretty good at guarding themselves online." Fujimaru, his IT guy, commented. "I can try to track their IP though, since you already paid me."

They managed to get his IP, thankfully. That only meant that Katsuki knew where Blogger was, however, and nothing else.

He changed his objective of travelling. Since it no longer really help him mentally, the least it can do is distract him, and now that he have a goal: To meet Blogger, it's about as good of a distraction as any.

He missed Blogger by an entire day in Romania, by two days in Brazil, and only three hours in South Africa, all because hero work prevent him from immediately leaving. Katsuki still exchanged messages with Blogger, admiring his photos, making small talks, as he followed his move across the world.

* * *

Then it would be Katsuki's own turn to get a permanent injury, losing hearing in both his ears after a reckless use of short range explosion in a fight. Then the old wound in his stomach suddenly began acting up in the middle of a fight, catching him off guard and allowed a dangerous villain to escape, injuring Katsuki's right eye in the process. The villain would only be caught later after five more deaths under his name, one of them a Pro Hero.

By itself, it wouldn't have been enough to truly made Katsuki raise the white flag.

But then the hostage crisis happened.

A villain group managed to take control of the Japanese government building, taking everyone within it as hostages, including dozens of important politicians, and hundreds of staff. Katsuki took charge of the rescue mission, most of other top heroes such as Shouto, Inasa, Hawks, and many more participated in the mission.

It was a bloodbath. More than half the hostage was killed while more than a dozen Pro Heroes also fell during the operationa huge political crisis happened, and everyone involved become easy targets for the media for entire months. Katsuki and Shouto got into a huge and very public fight, both of them forced to make public apologies and was suspended for weeks.

He didn't know who to reach out to.

Shota was dead. Eijirou and Ochako was too preoccupied with their own grief to offer much help to him. Shouto and he was still not on speaking terms after their fight. Denki was still in coma, Hitoshi still too broken by Denki's condition to help. He remembered Tenya's expression when he heard of what happened and couldn't bear to put the former Class President through something like that again. He's not particularly close to the rest of the UA alumni and teachers.

Blogger posted photos of him in Cambodia, one of them picturing him helping a local village get rid of leftover mines from the previous wars. Katsuki wanted to go after Blogger.

Katsuki Bakugou was 29 years old when he announced his retirement.

**GreenBlogger: **OMG, did you hear about Ground Zero retiring?!

**GreenBlogger: **He's so young! But after what happened lately, I guess even he need a break…

**GroundZeroIRL: **Yeah

Blogger had been the first person who didn't call him a selfish bastard for retiring, so that was nice.

* * *

He hacked Blogger's IP address again, taught how by his IT guy before he announced his retirement. He had followed Blogger almost endlessly ever since retiring, so about four months then. He had visited Italy, missed Blogger by a day, ate some damn delicious food, explored the Alps.

He visited the cities of Silk Road, missed Blogger by a few days, took in the faded glory of once mighty and powerful cities, and helped a small girl got away from government officials. He had never liked dictators.

He visited many more places, many more countries, taking in as much as he could, hoping that even if he missed Blogger, he could maybe understand a little bit how Blogger see the world he travelled.

It was after missing Blogger by 2 hours in Kenya that Katsuki sat down and take a deep thought about Blogger.

All he knew about Blogger was that he's a male, the same age as Katsuki, likes heroes, and that he's probably pretty fit. Oh, and that he have really nice and musled arms and legs, if the ones that occasionally popped up in the photos were his. Those, and the IP addresses that he hacked for. Yet, through his photos, his encouragement to take the trips, the silly messages they exchanged, he had probably saved Katsuki's sanity.

He was already losing himself by the time he found the blog, his responsibilities as #1 hero eating away at his sanity, his guilt over All Might's death still gnawing at him, and he was running himself to the ground. Then all his issues began stacking up, all the supporting pillars of his life falling away one by one, and still, the blog and his trips had been the one constant he can rely on to bring some semblance of comfort to his otherwise unforgiving life.

He really want to meet Blogger, even of just to thank him directly for saving his sanity, if not his life.

**GroundZeroIRL: **Seemed like you had fun in Kenya

**GreenBlogger: **Of course! I think I befriended a lion, actually,

**GreenBlogger: [photo of a tanned hand with traces of white scars patting a male lion on the head}**

**GroundZeroIRL: **Where are you going next?

**GreenBlogger: **It's a secret~

**GreenBlogger: **But prepare for a lot of colors!

* * *

He was right on the money with his guess. It's Delhi, India, for the Holi festival. Blogger seemed to love this particular festival, having visited it four times in the past, and Katsuki was sure that it would be the same that year.

Booked a hotel, fired up his laptop to trace Blogger's IP address and found that it's in a café just three minute walk away from his hotel.

Katsuki walked over, making sure that his face was hidden by his dark glasses and cap. Even in India, his notoriety, both as #1 hero and of his retirement, was still fairly well known, it seemed.

He just… want to see Blogger. To know how Blogger looked like, to see the face of the person who had kept him afloat even when the rest of the world seemed to conspire to drag him down all the way to the bottom of the ocean.

He got closer and caught sight of messy green hair, lightly stubbly chin, rimmed glasses, green eyes staring intently at a laptop screen.

Katsuki took a deep breath as he walked past the café doors. He walked over to a table and took a seat across a familiar yet not-so familiar face. The man sitting across him was not the same one he met ten years ago. Sharper jawlines, bulkier body, shorter but still messy hair, firmer arms covered in small scars, taller, too. Even taller than Katsuki, if he had to guess from a seated position.

Izuku Midoriya looked up from his laptop, a slight confusion coming to his expression before recognition dawned upon him, a small smirk growing in his face.

For once, Katsuki felt himself at loss of word, except-

"I've been following your blog."

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked this fic! Leave a comment, give fave if you like this. A sequel of sort from Izuku's perspective is under work, so look forward to that!**


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